


Devotion

by lintwhite



Category: Noblesse (Manhwa)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-20
Updated: 2011-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-27 14:25:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/296807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lintwhite/pseuds/lintwhite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frankenstein thinks to himself about the nature of his relationship with Rai.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Devotion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [luova_tauko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/luova_tauko/gifts).



As always, Frankenstein cannot comprehend what his master is thinking.  Blessed silence fills the air between them, as he takes soft sips from his tea, steam curling up from the cup, his eyes downcast morning, noon, night.  Quiet has always been his master's temperament.  Over the years, Frankenstein has attempted to learn to interpret the varying shades of his master's serenity, with degrees of success.  Tonight, like most nights, is another endless enigma.  
    To be honest, the recent visits from the students have, in a way, baffled Frankenstein.  They have taken such a liking to the master - graceful master, who does not flinch from their childish "punishments" during games, who tolerates their crass behavior.  At first, though it ashamed him to think about it, Frankenstein wondered what it was the children saw in his master. Such thoughts were not meant as an insult to his master, far from it;  the children are so loud, so uninhibited, so unlike him in every conceivable way, so what is it that each sees in the other?  Master has always been fond of humans but fondness has its limits.  
    There are even times Frankenstein wonders what his master sees in him.

  


* * *

    It is interesting and sometimes almost pitiable to watch his master struggle to adjust to this alien environment.  Frankenstein must remind himself that his master's interest in the mundane is only natural, although he's not sure if he will ever understand his master's taste for ramen.  But despite his bewilderment, it seems that his master does indeed enjoy this modern world, spending his time playing computer video games and attending school and eating snacks with his classmates.  _This_ is the being who had once been considered to succeed the Lord's throne, the one true Noblesse, who now expresses confusion at the inner workings of doors.  Frankenstein wonders what the previous Lord would do if he saw his master today.  In all honesty, he'd probably laugh, the old bastard.  
    Deep within his laboratory, out of his master's "earshot", sometimes Frankenstein stops and thinks about how truly grateful he is for their revived relationship.  Throughout all the long years of searching, he wondered how his master would be once he returned to him.  To believe his master to be changed was a bit absurd, as he had never given Frankenstein any indication such would be the case.  Nevertheless, he had long since decided that as a loyal servant, no matter what state of mind he found his master in, he would follow him to the ends of the earth and beyond.  Of this he had and still continues to have complete conviction.  
    It is the moments spent together drinking tea, enduring the company of the students, watching nervously as his master eats his experimental ramen dishes, that Frankenstein truly savors.  Although these moments are different in nature from those spent so many years ago in candlelight, there is no perceivable difference in the atmosphere between them.  His master is still his master - the same person who stood in the royal hall of the Lord now attends a Korean high school and not a thing has changed.  Still, it is strange to see his master, the exquisite creature he is, in such a place.  Frankenstein truly believes his master deserves nothing less than the highest quality, the most refined of things but it is evident that this belief is one-sided. Within his complexity, his master is a simple creature, who follows whatever whims he pleases; if he enjoys it, he enjoys it.  
    This often leads Frankenstein to ponder the inverse:  has he himself changed?  Unlike his master, who remained in stasis for over 800 years, he experienced the flow of the world and adapted along with it or so he has believed.  Immortal though he is, he is still a human.  Now he is the headmaster of a school, the protector of children.  Although he has changed in some ways, his nature is no less crueler, his thirst for the unknown no less quenched, he still causes master trouble with his recklessness.  _Does this make me a simple creature as well, if I have not changed?_   he wonders.  Though is change necessarily a bad thing?  It is certainly a necessary evil, he believes.  He knows that his master can sense his thoughts, the meanings behind his actions.  After all these years, is his master disappointed that his nature has remained the same?  He knows he has seen something akin to pity in his master's eyes, an emotion that Frankenstein cannot stand to bear being cast towards him, especially by master.  _I want to be worthy of you_ , he thinks.  _I want to be worthy in master's eyes_.  He can still remember the shame he felt when his master sealed his powers.  _I had failed him.  I continue to do so_.  
    The soft clink of porcelain as his master sets down his tea cup, his face an expressionless mask. "Frankenstein."  
    Frankenstein contorts his face into what he hopes passes for cheerful, despite the emotions churning inside of him.  He had not realized he had lost himself so completely to his own thoughts.  It was foolish, especially with master in such close proximity - what disgusting emotions he has displayed, how embarrassing. "Would you like another cup of tea?"  
    "Frankenstein," his master repeats.  "You have never failed me."  
    "M-Master..."  
    "You have never given me any reason to be disappointed in you.  Although at times the courses of action you've decided to undertake have not be favorable, the outcome has been.  Please...do not believe yourself to be a failure."  
    "...Master..."  Frankenstein swallows hard, at a loss for words.  Inside, his emotions are changing gears.  He almost laughs. How ridiculous he has been, projecting his own worthless feelings on his master, who has always been so understanding, so forgiving, even when Frankenstein has believed himself to be beyond forgivness.  Indeed, to believe himself unworthy of his master's feelings would be an insult to those very feelings.  So shameful.  
    "Frankenstein."  
    This time, the cheerful expression he shows his master is genuine.  "Yes, master?"  
    "I...am hungry."  
    "..."


End file.
